


March Masksness: Sailfish

by JeremyWritesAFiction



Category: Outstanding! (Podcast), Protean City Comics (Podcast), Roll Out! (Podcast)
Genre: Bad Parenting, Body Horror, Gen, March Masksness, Sad and Happy, Self-Esteem Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:22:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29787777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeremyWritesAFiction/pseuds/JeremyWritesAFiction
Kudos: 4





	1. Day 1: Overheard

"A Gaelic thunder god versus a fish?"

The laughter is not meant for Marlin Traeger -- for Sailfish. The division bracket is posted publicly. It's a large monitor in the open-air pavilion at one end of the landing -- almost the size of a movie screen. The small crowd of young heroes is crowded loosely around it, breaking apart into groups to meet old friends and new. Marlin keeps to the fringes. The laughter is not meant for Mar, but he hears it anyway.

"Yeah, this is going to go well..."

Hero Island is beautiful. The sun is warm over a lush jungle, trees as tall as Marlin's hopes -- not at all like home. Protean City is developed, concrete and asphalt and always so many people. Mar used to be comfortable in the crowd. He was always small for his age, a slight kid with an easy smile. Full of energy. Full of laughter. And then one day, just after his eleventh birthday, Mar's father -- Dr. Henry Traeger, sub-head of Genetic Research and Development for FALCON -- brought his work home.

He probably didn't mean for things to go this way. Mar's sure of it. Henry Traeger's plan wasn't to break his family in half, to turn his son into a formless creature of nightmares and regrets, to get arrested and for Mar to be taken away. Mar remembers like it was yesterday. He was going to be a hero. And here? Being here? With all these amazing people who've done amazing things and have amazing powers and beautiful costumes and...

They're heroes. So maybe, Mar thinks, he is too. He's here, right? That must mean something.

"This is just like the organizers, always throwing kids up against monsters."

There is a low murmur, frantic and insistent.

"Wait, what? The _fish_ is twelve? Are you _sure_?"

Another hushed voice.

"He's like six feet tall... hmm..."

Mar lets himself take it all in. The murmurs wash over him and he closes his eyes. Long, deep breaths.

_It's an honor just to be here. It's ok, they're going to talk. You know what you look like._

Sailfish opens his eyes.

_But they don't know what you can do._

***

The cool ocean breeze blows across the verdant tops of ancient trees and, far below, an Allosaurus is attempting to bite Marlin Traeger in half. Its teeth are having a difficult time trying to pierce the thick layers of iron sulfide which are forming and rearranging around Mar's midsection -- a living suit of armor borrowed from the sea pangolin, a hardy mollusc which survives without food under a mile and a half of super-boiling ocean. For millions of years, before this dinosaur's ancestors took a hesitant step out of the water, the sea pangolin existed unperturbed in a beautiful metallic hellscape. They're endangered now. Deep sea mining may kill what eons and a truly extreme environment could not.

The thought blazes through Marlin's mind as the Allosaurus chips its teeth against the living iron which his body has become. He reaches an arm towards the predator's back, towards the small flag affixed to the creature -- not a monster. Mar knows monsters. This is just an animal. Mar's arm elongates, his bones dissolve into water. The axons which carry chemical signals from his extremities towards whatever passes for his central nervous system these days expand into hydraulic information superhighways -- speed, power, and flexibility courtesy of the humble octopus. A tendril whips around the flag and instantly snaps back towards Mar's body.

Inside the Allosaurus' mouth, Sailfish's iron creaks and his shell splits open to reveal a long, hollow dart -- which flicks forwards as fast as a bullet. Mar's radular harpoon -- much like the cone snail's, on which it is based -- pricks the dinosaur's soft tissues. The jungle goes silent for a long moment as the beast slows and then falls. It will have a nice long nap, but ultimately be no worse for wear -- a dose that size would be fatal for a human, but the Allosaurus is many times larger.

Mar focuses for a long moment, the myriad changes of his biology settling back into place -- back to as close as he can get to normal. Six feet tall, a huge sail which crests over even that height. He sighs and removes a safety pin from the pocket of his denim jacket to put his sleeve back on while the Allosaurus snores softly. He often wishes that his powers didn't destroy his clothes so much. Sage never gets too upset when he needs new pants, but he still feels guilty about having to ask so often.

Mar pats the Allosaurus and takes a moment to admire its feathers. It's beautiful. Bright reds and streaks of white, black at the tips. A soft, downy belly. Gorgeous.

_If I looked like that..._ _if I looked like that..._

If he were soft and bright and symmetrical, he thinks, maybe people would look at him and say something besides "oh, a fish?" Maybe, if he tries hard enough, one day he'll be able to look like something other than this. Maybe, if he tries hard enough, people will see the hero first and the monster second. He grits his rows of pointed teeth and stares at his hand, concentrating. Mar's fingers run together while he watches, melting and reforming through stages -- tentacles ringed with electric blue, delicately clawed scales, flowing saltwater and, for the briefest of moments, something approaching a human hand. Mar dares to hope. But it's like tensing one specific muscle while also trying to walk a tightrope. The illusion fades and the scales return.

And then Mar shakes his head and moves off through the trees. There is a roar in the distance and he heads straight for it. Because Marlin Traeger -- Sailfish -- is not a monster. He's a hero. And he's not "just a fish." He is the ocean.


	2. Day 7: Not Alone

The Saurian Jungle, and its timeless inhabitants, began to thin out into soft, verdant hills. Rolling grass rustled in a light ocean breeze and sloped down to a wide, grey expanse far below. The journey was a blur in Mar's mind. He hadn't eaten or slept for days, and the fact that he was neither hungry nor tired bothered him -- but those worries were easily pushed aside in the excitement of having reached the staging area for the next round.

Here, the lonely travel through the crushing green of the jungle would be done. Here, the competitors would gather before the next challenge. Here, Mar would get to see his friends again -- to trade stories of dinosaurs and strange insects and surprise thunderstorms, to laugh and reaffirm their bonds before moving on. Here, Mar was sure, he'd be able to catch up with Roberta and Olalla and Ellis and Elliot -- maybe even some of the older heroes from Protean City, with whom PCOY's kids had traveled to Hero Island. Mar had been too shy to talk to most of them before. They all seemed so... capable.

But now? Maybe Sailfish would be able to introduce himself properly to Crosswind -- who reminded Mar so much of Lightshow's _Darkest Light_ run that Mar was curious if the masked hero was Lightshow in disguise. Mar could only hope. Maybe he'd tell Alina Mars, who had seemed so cool on the trip here, about the Allosaurus. She'd say that she'd had to get past one too, and when Mar asked how, she would give a sly grin and say that she had managed, but the details were need-to-know. So cool.

Maybe Salamecha would offer to teach PCOY's kids how to get past the technological challenges of the next round, and Highwire would laugh and say that if the kiddos needed pointers on breaking and entering, well... And the rest, inferred but unspoken, suggested scenes of stealth training and high-flying acrobatics. Maybe Virgo Regulus would clap PCOY's young heroes on the shoulders and laugh that big, booming roar of a laugh. Would he invite Mar and Elliot to join the House of Regulus? Would they go off and have swashbuckling space adventures after Hero Island? In space? With cool space swords? In the light of day, after the week-long darkness of the jungle, anything seemed possible.

As Mar stepped out of the tree line and stretched, he took a deep breath of crisp, clean air and turned his face upwards to a beautiful, sunny day. And then he walked down the hill towards the staging grounds, where a small cluster of heroes was beginning to gather.

***

The staging grounds were nice, in an 'ancient machine ruins' sort of way. Mar had thought it looked pretty cool when he'd gotten here. Colossal devices lay, half-buried, at odd angles. The stems of flowering plants peeked out of rust-eaten holes in their inscrutable carapaces. Thin, glittering wires stretched from long-inert power transformers to connect with the crumbling facades of buildings whose purposes had ages since passed into obscurity. For the first hour, Mar had just wandered and taken it all in.

The excitement had quickly turned to anxiety, though. As the hours grew and more heroes arrived, Sailfish was beginning to get worried that none of his friends had made it through the jungle. He'd made his way back to the overgrown square where everyone was gathering around a makeshift bonfire, and was counting faces. He was finding distressingly few that he recognized. None, in fact.

There was a young woman with bright red hair twirling a pink parasol while balancing along one of the taught power lines. As she reached the midpoint, she pretended to wobble, drawing gasps from those assembled beneath -- then she did three neat somersaults before landing en pointe. After a quick pirouette, she took a bow in the middle of the line, flourishing a top hat to delighted applause. She threw her hat down to another young woman -- a punk girl with ripped jeans and fishnets, who caught the hat out of midair and began to pass it around for tips to the sounds of laughter. Nobody had brought money, and they all knew it. Across the way, an android -- Mar's height, maybe even taller -- knelt to scratch a stray goat between its horns. Mar hadn't even known this island _had_ goats.

Near the fire, a short Latina teenager in a very cool leather jacket compared helmets with a taller Filipino guy with an undercut and neon-bright eyes -- hers was sleek, futuristic, almost understated. His looked like something out of Daft Punk. Daft Punk adjacent? Daft Punk-esque, at least. As they compared helmet features, an ominous figure in a dark robe appeared behind the Filipino guy -- draped with chains and casting a dark, unmoving shadow, the grim form floated several inches off the ground. A hand stretched out from beneath the robes -- Mar's jaw tightened and he felt himself tense. Was this a villain attack? Mar had heard that had happened last year. But then Warlock tapped Vaporwave on the shoulder. Vaporwave turned to greet him, and introduced Meridian. Soon, the three were joking around and taking selfies.

Everyone was clustering out into groups of twos, threes, fours; old friends and new catching up and laughing and lounging. But there was no Roberta, no Olalla, no Ellis. No Crosswind or Virgo Regulus. No Alina Mars, no Highwire. No Salamecha. And worst of all, no Elliot. Mar sat on a slab of concrete and stared at the fire as the sun began to set. He was alone. None of his friends were coming. Mar was the only one who'd made it through.

***

Sometime after dark, in the dying embers of the bonfire, a hand waved in front of Mar's face. He startled back on the concrete slab and pulled his knees up towards his chin.

"Whoa! Whoa." A face peered up at him in the middling glow between the dying fire and the oncoming starlight. "Hi? I'm Paige. Sorry if I... scared you?"

She was short, dressed in a sleek black uniform, with close-cropped red hair -- under which a broad face split into a nervous smile. Mar noticed that she had a gap between her incisors. He'd had one too. Mar's dad had insisted on braces to correct it, but it hardly seemed like the discomfort had been worth it now. Now his teeth sort of did their own thing. Usually that meant razor-sharp needlepoints. Mar did not smile often -- the sight tended to disturb people, of which he was painfully aware. Paige was tilting her head, and Mar realized she'd said something. She'd asked a question, and he hadn't been paying attention. He winced.

"Sorry, I... hi. I'm Marlin. Mar. Sailfish." Mar dropped his eyes to the side, his voice soft. "Nobody calls me that, though."

"Which one?" Paige climbed up onto the concrete slab and stretched, her joints popping as her arms straightened out above her head.

"Huh?"

"Which one don't people call you?"

"Oh." Mar chanced a look sideways, his too-large, too-strange eyes catching the last luminous sparks of the bonfire. "Sailfish. It was supposed to be my hero name, and it's what's on the big tracker board thing, but... Nobody calls me that. I keep meaning to use it, but I just can't."

Paige scooted back on her hands and for a moment, the two watched the last sparks of the bonfire fade.

"Why not?"

"It's kind of embarrassing to talk about."

"If it helps, I go by Boom! -- like with an exclamation point, every time. I have no room to judge."

The corners of Mar's mouth turned up, not quite a smile -- definitely no teeth -- but something. Then his eyes drifted up to the stars, their light full and bright now without the bonfire to obscure them.

"Sailfish was my dad's idea."

"Yeah, my dad has some dorky ideas too, sometimes."

"No, it's..." Mar sighed and buried his face in his knees. "I don't know if I want to let him decide what I'm called anymore."

"Oh."

Silence blossomed between them. Paige had been keeping an eye on the big, weird kid for most of the evening -- not spying, not ogling, just trying to figure him out. He'd been alone the whole time. Most of the competitors were cheerfully catching up with their friends, maybe too busy to notice the hulking form with the big sail. It's not like Mar was the only strange-looking hero here. Similarly, some folks had probably figured he was brooding or being aloof -- a lot of heroes went in for that sort of thing, and it was bad form to interrupt a good brood. But Paige had recognized the empty look on his face. She knew pain when she saw it. She knew fear. And she knew loss.

Sailfish was lost. However he'd showed up to Hero Island, it was obvious that he was on his own now. Paige rubbed the back of her head, looking sideways at the hunched-over form of Marlin Traeger, and made a decision.

"Hey, um..." Boom! cleared her throat. "I know it's a competition, but... you want to tackle this next challenge together? As a team?"

Mar raised his head and opened his mouth to speak. Before he could answer, there was a low tone which echoed across the island.

A hush fell over the staging ground, this makeshift camp of the thirty two remaining heroes eerily quiet in the still night air. And then it appeared. Above the ruined square, above the warm remains of the dead fire, a silver-blue rectangle of light unfolded against the sky. Words began to scroll.

_**CONGRATULATIONS!** _

THE REMAINING COMPETITORS WILL NOW ENTER **PHASE TWO** OF THE TRIALS

YOU WILL **UNCOVER SECRETS**

YOU WILL USE YOUR WITS

YOU WILL **DEMONSTRATE**

WHY YOU

_**AND NOT YOUR RIVAL** _

HAVE THE NECESSARY QUALITIES

TO BE OUR **CHAMPION**

YOU HAVE ONE WEEK

PREPARE YOURSELVES

_**THE TRIAL BEGINS AT SUNRISE.** _

And then the bracket hung, as wide as the sky, in the air. Mar and Paige stared silently as each pair of competitors was highlighted, zoomed in on, put side by side along with images of their time in the jungle. And as the divisions scrolled, a pressure grew around them. As they rolled past -- _Protean City_ , _Halcyon City_ , _Cadence_ \-- the two held their breath. Until inevitably, at the very end of the _Rancho Pasillo_ division, a caption rotated into view. The only one that could.

SAILFISH

VS

BOOM!

Mar stood up. Paige reached out a hand, but he'd already turned and stumbled away into the darkness.

***

The next morning, Marlin Traeger -- Sailfish, even though nobody called him that -- made his way along the marked path and into the giant, otherworldly corpses of Hero Island's long-dead machinery. He'd found a small pond to curl up in last night -- his first sleep in a week. He'd dreamed of the ocean. Mar always dreamed of the ocean. Already he could feel his cells beginning to rearrange, his scales thickening with a waxy coating; reconfiguring to lock the heavy rust salts of the machine ruins out of his body.

All around, metallic skeletons grew from the ground, the bones of a city which had once risen triumphantly into the sky, sleek and more advanced than anything Sailfish had ever seen. All gone, now. It looked like something very bad had happened here a long time ago. Mar had seen enough combat to recognize what was decay and what was damage. There was a lot of both, but if he had to guess, Mar would imagine that the damage had come first.

There was a sharp whistle from above, followed by a voice.

"Hey! Sailfish!"

Mar startled and jumped backwards. His face tilted up to see Paige -- Boom! -- waving down from the roof of a ruined building.

"Wha-"

"You want some apple juice? I got enough to share!"

Mar blinked, the nictitating membranes of his eyes sliding first vertically and then horizontally.

"What?"

"Apple juice! Do you want some? Gotta keep your team hydrated!"

As if to emphasize, Paige held up a small, rectangular box and waved it at Mar. He stopped, looking around the hollow ruins of crumbling structures and inscrutable devices, and then back up to the rooftop where Boom! was still slowly waggling a juice box.

"Aren't... aren't we supposed to be..."

"What, rivals? Competitors? Who gives a fart! Come get some juice!"

For a long moment, Mar's mouth hung open. His hands shook, the bones in them trying to decide whether to exist or not. And then he broke out into a wide, needle-toothed smile and began to make his way upwards.


	3. Days 9-12: Working Together

Day 9

The robot -- if that is what it is -- is twenty feet tall. The crumbling remains of synthetic skin sloughs away as it rains blows down on Sailfish. It used to have a cheerful, smiling, helpful face. As it slams a splintering metal fist into Sailfish, a speaker set in its throat blares tinny, up-tempo music and the sounds of laughter.

"Hey! Knock it off!" Paige yells from across the street, shaking a fist at the robot -- if that is what it is -- and then turning her voice to Mar. "You gonna be ok if I boom this?"

"I'll be fine!"

Mar's arms are crossed above his head. They have reformed into nacreous shells, iridescent and rainbow-glittering as the force of the attack splinters the rubble beneath his feet. The challenge is supposed to be a door. But nothing on Hero Island is ever as easy as it seems. They haven't even _found_ the door yet.

Boom! lines up her hand, looking at the mammoth machine through outstretched fingers. She takes a breath. Then another. And then the word.

"Boom."

The air rips apart. The music warbles, slows, and stops. Shards of twisted steel clatter down around Sailfish, the rattle of their impacts like gunfire against the hardened umbrella of his shell. As the machine falls, a long arc of lightning pierces upwards from its ruined carapace. A roll of thunder erupts through the ruins. With unnatural speed, clouds begin to gather. Ozone ripples through the atmosphere, and a gentle rain begins to fall.

Paige jogs over to stand under Sailfish's upraised arms and grins, gap-toothed and triumphant, and punches him playfully in the ribs. His side caves in, boneless and springy -- Mar's body has become one giant shock absorber to better weather the attack. It's like punching silly putty. Paige blinks, but does not hesitate.

"Good work back there. Let's take five!"

Day 10

The door looms. It's just a door. But it looms. It's large -- dozens of feet high, built on a scale which would allow passage to even the widest of dinosaurs. In its surface, pristine and shining against the rusted, pitted cliff into which it is set, is carved a series of reliefs. On one side, bizarre chariots attached to saurian animals of labor are arranged from top to bottom along with writing in a language neither Mar nor Boom! understands. Some sort of ledger? Instructions?

On the other, the image of a Reptalite -- one of Hero Island's mysterious denizens -- stands as tall as the door itself. The Reptalite's eyes are two yellow gems which seem to follow Mar and Boom! wherever they go. Mar has only briefly seen an actual, living Reptalite -- he knows they're looking for a champion, but not why. There was one at the opening ceremony who gave an intonation which sounded like some sort of prayer.

Mar notes, as he's standing and staring up at the door, that Boom! has already begun attempting to open it. She's planted her heels into the dusty scrabble and wedged her fingers into the seam, and is pulling. The strain is turning her face red.

"I..." Mar's voice is soft, but insistent. "Paige, don't hurt yourself, I don't think it works like that."

"No, it's-" She tugs with all her might, veins popping out on her forehead. "It's fine, see. Hrrrnnnnngh-"

"I mean... I think it's a push."

Paige pauses, blinking. She braces her shoulder against the door and pushes with all her might, feet planting into the ground and digging long furrows in the rocky dirt.

"I think. It's. A little. Stuck-" The door makes a sound -- a loud mechanical clang _._ "Aah!"

Paige's feet slip and she falls forward, catching herself on one of the in-set chariot wheels. Much to her surprise, the wheel turns. There is a long series of clicks from within the door, then the sound of running sand.

"It's a puzzle!" Mar's face lights up and he takes a step forward, looking up the door.

Paige stands up, hands on her knees and trying to catch her breath.

"What..." She holds up a hand, one finger outstretched to signal that she needs a moment. "What, like the door's a big Katamino?"

Mar nods excitedly, his face splitting into a wide, sharp-toothed smile. As the two watch, the wheels above the one Paige had turned begin to spin -- but something is wrong. After a few revolutions, they click -- stuck. The door makes another sound -- this time a low, metallic tone reminiscent of a computer error message. _Whumk!_ The wheels reverse directions, spinning rapidly and then stopping. The Reptalite's yellow gem eyes flash briefly orange.

"Huh."

Paige looks at Mar.

Mar looks back at Paige.

"Huh."

Day 11

The falling-sand hiss begins and both Mar and Boom! cross their fingers. The sun is high and reflects off of the metal gate -- the humidity is just awful.

"This time for sure." Paige hopes she's right. "This time we got it!"

The wheels begin to spin. Three sets begin to match time with each other -- their best result yet. And then a fourth begins to move, but jerkily. Not at all in sync with the others. A clatter of flywheels spinning down, the bass-metal _whumk,_ and then the wheels begin to reverse. Again.

"Dang it!" Paige kicks the dirt and begins to pace. "Stupid Katamino door! Who even asked you!"

The Reptalite's eyes flash orange. Again.

"Oh, well that's just great!"

Mar crosses another box off of their checklist. Most of the contestants had come to Hero Island with a phone. The island had decent reception, as it turned out. Mar had said Sage -- his caretaker, Paige gathered -- didn't think he was ready for one quite yet. To be fair, the kid had to sleep fully submerged in water, and he had a habit of breaking nearly everything around him. So Mar had come to Hero Island with a notepad and three ballpoint pens. Two of them were already broken. He was being very careful with the last.

The checklist had been his idea -- make a grid with all the possible combinations for each wheel, then test each one in order. It was a solid plan, and eventually it would work, but Paige was finding it frustratingly slow.

"It'll be ok, Paige." Mar flips the notepad shut and carefully tucks it in the front pocket of his ripped denim jacket. "It's like Lightshow always says-"

" _Sometimes, when the light is the darkest_..." Paige says the line with him.

There is a moment of silence, and then the two crack up. It's hard to stay frustrated while delivering such a goofy line.

"You really like that show, huh?" Paige stretches, a long series of pops echoing up her spine.

"Yeah. It's... I just feel like it gets me? Does that make any sense?" Mar winces, sensing that perhaps he has said something embarrassing.

"Totally! I've never seen it. Maybe we can watch a few episodes when this is all over."

The two work for a long while, adjusting wheels into the next configuration. Mar is trying not to think about what happens when they eventually get the door to open -- after all, only one of them can move forward.

"What's your favorite show, Paige?"

The two stand back, looking up and waiting for the loud clunk that will signal the start of this test.

"Oh, it's... not really a show, I guess? More like a movie?"

Mar waits. Paige waits. The clicking begins, and the sand-hiss.

"Tell me about it?"

A slow smile spreads across Paige's face while the wheels begin to spin.

"So it all starts with Marnie Piper, who never gets to go out on Halloween..."

Day 12

"-because Kalabar was mad that Gwen broke up with him?"

All of the wheels are spinning together now, and there's a soft tinging sound from within the door -- like marbles being dropped down metal stairs.

"I know, right? What a jerk!"

The wheels stop -- there is no clunk, no _whumk_ , no clicking. The marble sound continues. This is new. Sailfish and Boom! exchange glances and begin to panic.

"Are we supposed to do something?"

"How should I know?! It's an ancient dino-door!"

"You're older than me!"

"That doesn't mean I-"

The marble sounds stop. The wheels begin to reverse, but slowly. The Reptalite's yellow gem eyes flash three times, then glow softly. The doors begin to slide apart. Mar and Paige stare forward, eyes fixed on something they're not sure they want to see. Tingling orange light begins to spill towards them from within. A long, triumphant tone sounds. This is the moment.

"Whatever happens, we're friends, ok?"

"Yeah. For sure."

And then together, as the luminous energy envelops them.

" _Because sometimes, when the light is the darkest..._ "


End file.
